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Sacred fruit

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I was reading the story of Ruth and Naomi to the little kids in my Hebrew school today. Dear converts,

remember even though you may not have been born Jewish you still are Jewish. You are real Jews. I know the conversion process is really hard and those who converted, congratulations welcome. And to those who are still in the process of conversion, thank you, I know there is a lot going on right now, it’s scary. But you guys still chose to stick with us, even though there has been a lot of antisemitism. If anyone tells you you’re faking it or not real Jews, ignore them, you are real Jews. (The Jewish adgendaTM is to continue to survive, you help with that).

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Honestly can I just say: all of y'all who are starting or continuing your conversions right now, even in these terrible times, and experiencing and embracing Jewish joy at a time when it is very hard to be Jewish? You are such a miracle and a blessing. There is a special kind of ahavat Yisrael - love for the Jewish people - that gerim bring to the table, and it's so life-giving always. But especially in dark times. Especially now.

May your light be a blessing on all of us!

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There's something that really gets me about how the Torah is alive. A Torah scroll is buried when it's destroyed and can't be salvaged. People are as careful holding a Torah scroll as they are holding a baby. We dress our Torah scrolls in adorned cases or decorated robes. We celebrate it every year like it's its birthday. And the words of the Torah themselves are also alive. We constantly reread and recontextualize and reinterpret the Torah. The Torah is as alive as the Jewish people are.

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Ya ever just yai dai da dai dai dai dai dai dai dai da dai dai dai yai dai dai dai dai dai yai dai dai

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This thought just before Shavuot: as I said to my husband over dinner tonight. “I would rather die a Jew tomorrow than live a hundred years a gentile” their hate will NEVER extinguish my love of Am Yisrael.

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Young members of a Black Jewish congregation in Harlem, ca. 1955 .

Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images Instagram

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Shavuot

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“The Jewish story is a strange one. Time and again the Jewish people has split apart, in the days of the First Temple when the kingdom divided into two, in the late Second Temple period when it was driven into rival groups and sects, and in the modern age, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when it fragmented into religious and secular in Eastern Europe, orthodox and others in the West. Those divisions have still not healed. And so the Jewish people keeps repeating the story told five times in the Torah. God creates order. Humans create chaos. Bad things happen, then God and Israel begin again. Will the story never end? One way or another it is no coincidence that Bamidbar usually precedes Shavuot, the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai. God never tires of reminding us that the central human challenge in every age is whether freedom can coexist with order. It can, when humans freely choose to follow God’s laws, given in one way to humanity after the Flood and in another to Israel after the exodus. The alternative, ancient and modern, is the rule of power, in which, as Thucydides said, the strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must. That is not freedom as the Torah understands it, nor is it a recipe for love and justice. Each year as we prepare for Shavuot by reading parshat Bamidbar, we hear God’s call: here in the Torah and its mitzvot is the way to create a freedom that honours order, and a social order that honours human freedom. There is no other way. ”

— Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

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Cara Drook, Reclaiming La Belle Juive, (2022 –).

'"La belle Juive" translates to "the beautiful Jewess." It is an archetype of Jewish women that is repeatedly shown in paintings and media throughout history. "La belle Juive" is rooted in antisemitism and misogyny. My goal with this collection is to have Jewish women take control of their narrative and reclaim "La belle Juive." I want to return dignity to the subjects and show what truly makes Jewish women beautiful.'

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most effective way to block the evil eye?

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I love being Jewish. I love the way a bracha rolls off my tongue, half whisper, half inheritance, and suddenly I'm not alone.

I'm stitched to something older than exile, older than fear.

There are generations behind me, candlelit and stubborn, who prayed with the same words, who wept and danced and buried their dead with the same rhythms.

Through halacha, through ritual, through the ache of tradition, I belong.

עם ישראל חי

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Pride month vest project, a patch a day #29: Wheat But Not Bread, Fruit But Not Wine

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I listed my religion at my doctor's as Jewish.

I haven't had my mikveh yet, and I waffled a lot on whether I should. Ultimately, I decided if I fall into an irreversible coma or something, I would prefer a rabbi advise my case versus, say, a priest.

I feel weird about it because I'm not actually Jewish yet, but "other" doesn't cover it.

Guess it's something to run by my rabbi.